Against All Odds - Hiccup X Reader

Chapter 4 - The Face-Off

I've made use of my morning off today: even though I've been up for a couple hours- and it's definitely past noon, I haven't made a single effort to get out of bed.

I knew I made some hunters feel on edge just by being around them.
I mean if I was one of them, I'd be careful around my boss's daughter too. But I didn't think any of them would take it as seriously as father claims they do. Maybe I should be more careful around them, but how I do that without coming off as soft I do not know.

I get up and out of my room before my father, Ryker, out Dagur send any of their men up to check on me.

I'm taken aback by the wind hitting my face as soon as I step outside, but I adapt quickly, getting a move on down to the deck for another laborious day of endless practice.

Heather is training again. Why am I not surprised?

This time, she doesn't bother looking at me.
I get the urge to say something passive aggressive to get her attention, but thinking back to my fathers words, I decide to be less intimidating and mind my own business.

I strike the target board right in the centre without my axe. I perfect my axe-throwing by repeating the process for as many times as I can. Not that it wasn't perfect before; with nothing but a training area for entertainment for years locked up in a ship, I've become king of overpowered in one-on-one fighting.
Ace-throwing starts to get boring after a while- it's just not as challenging anymore.

I push myself to practice a little more, and just as I'm planning on leaving for the day, Heather unexpectedly speaks up from next to me, "You're good.".
I feel like thanking her and complimenting her back, but it feels like too much for my reputation-self to do.
I settle on responding a simple "thanks".

It's clear she wants to tell me something, so I ask if there's anything she'd like to say as I throw my axe higher in the air for the last time. This time it hits the board, but not directly in the centre. I'm happy I've found a flaw to work on later. High throws.

"Yeah, so do you... want to- train together?" She asks hesitantly.
I'm glad she did, I don't know how much longer I could've handled this repetitive practice.

"Yes!" I exclaim, realising how enthusiastic I sounded right after I said it.
"I mean, yeah. Do you want to fight with both with a weapon, or one with shield, and one with weapon?" I direct a question, making more of an effort to contain myself this time.

"I was thinking more of a sharing tips with each other kind of training but I guess that's fine too..." she mumbles, going to pick up her double axe.

"Both weapons." she affirms once she takes a defensive position opposite me.
Her axe is fancier than mine, it folds out whenever she wants.

I smile puckishly, tightening my grip on my iron axe and bracing myself on the ground.

A small crowd starts to form around us, waiting to see what'll happen.

"Three," a hunter from the crowd starts counting down.
"Two," some other hunters join this time.
"One..." I consider waiting until zero or starting now.
"ZERO!" most hunters shout collectively.

I know the importance of charging first and having the upper hand to start with, so I run towards her, throwing my axe at halfway even if it is a risky move.
She dodges... at least I get the first attack in?

This time, she comes charging at me, but I do a somersault flip in the air, avoiding her axe while getting myself effectively closer to mine.

I run the last few steps and pull my weapon out of the two pieces of metal it was stuck in between quickly, flipping around to be faced with Heather's axe heading towards me fast in the air. Gods, this girl is a challenge.
I take advantage of my position and manage to catch her axe mid-air which gains me some cheers.
Now, she is left defenceless, and I have double the power I started with.

I take confident but wary steps towards her, sticking both axes out to my sides to limit her options of escaping.

She backs away slowly step-by-step until she reaches the wall of tense, quiet hunters behind her.

"Give up now?" I ask in triumph, knowing she has no other chance but to accept her loss. This wasn't so hard after all.

At first, she looks worried, but then, out of nowhere, she snatches one of the hunters axes from behind her, gaining some gasps and bewildered cheers from the crowd.

"No." she smirks in response, barbarically swinging the small axe at me while taking steps forwards, doing some sort of Berserker battle cry which I find cringe.
She's not giving me the time to breathe properly, let alone think about my next move. All I can do is avoid the fast and accurate attacks thrown in my way.

Luckily, the thing about battle strategy is that you don't think about your next move. Your next move comes to you. You act on instinct.

First, my instinct tells me to step as far back as I can, getting her to throw her axe again so I might have a chance of catching it, but she could just grab another hunters axe. Plus, it's not exciting to repeat a move that's already been done. I need something else, something creative...

I sweep the long axe I caught off of her by her feet, hoping to knock her off balance, but she jumps over it. Honestly, who trailed this girl so well?

I decide to take a lower stance and focus on throwing her off balance from there, which would be quite challenging to do while avoiding her attacks.

I start trying to distract her with my agility;  swinging in all directions equally as quickly. My goal is to stay light on my feet and never still, to not give her a chance to attack.

I swing my axe above her head to focus her attention there first, then slide down behind her, hitting the bottom of her boots hard with the back-side of the axe. That was all it took to throw Heather off balance, making her fall face-first to the ground.

Before she tries to get up, I push my axe to her neck, making her give up.

"Finee, yes, you win." She admits with a chuckle, holding her arms up above her head jokingly as I help her get up from the floor.

I hear my uncle Ryker's thick voice echo through the cheering coming from the crazed hunters who practically run back to whatever they were supposed to be doing.

Ryker pushes through the crowd, searching for the cause of this distraction.
He looks annoyed when he sees me and Heather at the centre of the crowd.

I wave up at him with an unsure grin, hoping to soften the punishment I feel I am about to receive.
"Do you realise how much disorder you've caused on the ship? And I thought you had discipline." He yells at both of us, but I feel like the last part is more directed at me.

"We're sorry" Heather apologises in a rush.
Is she really scared of Ryker?
I mean sure, he looks tough, but he wouldn't actually harm us. Or just me.
Yeah, I think I'm biased with the whole being his niece thing.

Regardless, I also feel the need to apologise after she did. "Yes, we really are." I add on.

"And where is Dagur? He's supposed to keep the order of the deck." The man roars, searching around the deck with his dark eyes.

I'm pretty sure I saw Dagur cheering along somewhere in the crowd, but I'm not exactly sure, so I don't say anything. Even if I did, I don't think I would rat the man out so quickly.

"I'll let Viggo deal with you two." He sneers. I roll my eyes as soon as he looks away from me. Glancing back at Heather, I notice how pale she looks- almost like she's seen a ghost.